SLB’s joint venture OneSubsea has secured a contract from Equinor for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a pioneering 12-well, all-electric subsea production system (SPS) for the Fram Sør field offshore Norway.

Following a collaborative, year-long front-end engineering design phase, Equinor and SLB OneSubsea collectively progressed the project, culminating in the formulation of the development strategy and final investment decision (FID).

Under the contract, energy technology company SLB OneSubsea will provide four subsea templates and 12 all-electric subsea trees, reducing the need for hydraulic fluid from the host platform and minimising topside modifications.

This approach presents an economical option for the project while enabling additional, future expansion projects in the area.

SLB OneSubsea CEO Mads Hjelmeland said: “Fram Sør is a breakthrough project for our industry – marking the first large-scale all-electric subsea production system.

“Not only do all-electric subsea solutions significantly reduce topside needs to make large-scale tiebacks such as the Fram Sør development possible, but they also hold the key to unlock more marginal resources through their reduced footprint and simplified operations.”

The Fram Sør project is set to be developed as a subsea tieback to the Troll C platform in the North Sea, bolstering the reliability of energy supply from the Norwegian Continental Shelf to Europe.

The production from Fram Sør will boast very low emissions, taking advantage of a host platform powered from Norwegian shores.

The contract's finalisation is contingent upon regulatory approval of the plan for development and operations.

In May, SLB and Subsea 7 received a substantial engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract from bp for the Ginger project offshore Trinidad and Tobago.